Vol. XV No. 3; March 2019 A DDP PUBLICATION Pages: 28 ddppl.com d TravTalkMiddleEast.com March 6-10, 2019 Media Partner All roads lead to Germany ITB Berlin 2019, to be held We are participating at ITB Berlin for the 22nd consecutive year and this represents a fresh opportunity for us to showcase from March 6-10 at Messe the finest aspects of Sharjah’s heritage, adventures, architec- ture and other offerings. This year, during our participation, we Berlin, attracts six emirates will focus on Sharjah’s ecotourism, outdoor activities and branded hotels with the aim of attracting more tourists and from the UAE with Expo 2020 investors from Germany, a major source market, and other participating nations. The event will help boost our efforts to Dubai and Saudi Arabian meet our target of attracting 10 million visitors by 2021. Our contingent this year will comprise Ramada Hotel, Sharjah General Investment Authority Airport Travel Agency, Coral Beach Hotel, Sharjah Museums as new additions from Department, Sharjah International Airport, Cozmo Travel, The Act Hotel, Environment and Protected Areas Authority, Sheraton Hotels, Al Bait Hotel, Sharjah Collection, Centro the Middle East. HE Khalid Jasim Al Midfa Chairman, Sharjah Commerce and Tourism Development Authority Sharjah by Rotana and Orient Tours. SHEHARA RIZLY Ras Al Khaimah Tourism Development Like every year, the German tourism board will have a Authority has exceeded its target of attracting large stand at ITB Berlin to meet with our valued partners one million visitors by 2018 by reporting from all over the world. We look forward to strengthening 1,072,066 visitors from domestic and key relations with the travel trade and tourism partners to international markets. Germany continues to be update the tourism community about the latest industry our leading international source market with trends and marketing activities to promote ‘Destination 83,605 visitors to Ras Al Khaimah in 2018, Germany’. Our Dubai-based office will be attending ITB to followed by Russia and the UK. At ITB Berlin, we connect with German partners like hotels, regional will be showcasing a virtual reality experience of tourism boards or any other travel-related service Jebel Jais Flight - the world’s longest zipline, providers and woo them to take part in our GCC-wide which has welcomed over 25,000 flyers since its marketing activities. To promote ‘Destination Germany’ Haitham Mattar opening about a year ago. We will be updating Sigrid de Mazieresm Chief Executive Officer Director—Gulf Countries, and for the travel trade industry to explore our country, we Ras Al Khaimah Tourism visitors on the culture and heritage projects German National Tourism organise Germany Travel Mart every year whilst offering a Development Authority Board including the pearl farm and restoration of old range of pre-scheduled educational tours. pearl farming village of the 17th century. Contd. on page 3 NEWS MARCH 2019 TRAVTALK 3 Riyadh preps for travel fair Luring the Europe market Contd. from page 1 Sheikh Imran Hafeez, Director of Sales & The event provides us with an excellent opportunity to network with our trade partners and our peers as well as the Marketing, ASAS Exhibitions and Conference local, regional and international press. This year, we will be Organizing Company, shares details of Riyadh highlighting our pipeline of property launches. In particular, we will be promoting our debut property under the TIME Express Travel Fair that is being held from March 28-30. Hotels brand - TIME Express Hotel Al Khan, a three-star property in Sharjah featuring 55 keys and scheduled to open in TT Bureau April 2019. Expansion will remain key for us throughout 2019 Mohamed Awadalla with a range of new openings planned across the UAE as well s one of the biggest Riyadh Travel Fair expects Chief Executive Officer as other properties throughout the wider MENA region. Atravel and tourism over 50 countries with a TIME Hotels events in the Kingdom total of 300 exhibitors from Crucial for hotels in the UAE, the German market is of Saudi Arabia, Riyadh across the world and over focused on leisure as it offers volume throughout the year, Travel Fair provides a great 25,000 visitors. including the summer season. Mövenpick Hotel Ibn Battuta networking platform for Gate Dubai continues to work closely with this market. ITB all those in the business In terms of new exhibitors, Berlin is a great networking platform for us. We aim to of tourism and hospitality. a considerable amount strengthen our existing partnerships with Germany to Over the past years, the of new destinations have increase business volumes whilst taking this opportunity to source new ones. Additionally, promoting and selling in- trade fair has been growing been added on to its list destination services together with our room rate is another Fadi Sallit exponentially. The Kingdom and some of them are Azer- area we look forward to enhancing during this show. Director - Sales Leisure of Saudi Arabia is one of Sheikh Imran Hafeez baijan Tourism, Malaysia Mövenpick Hotel Ibn Director of Sales & Marketing Battuta Gate Dubai the most lucrative markets ASAS Exhibitions & Conference Tourism, Maldives, South Organizing Company due to its habitual outbound Africa, etc. “The number of The German market and Central Europe as a whole vacations along with its & Conference Organizing visitors keep increasing to represent a 21 per cent share of arrivals to Dubai, and the German market in particular represents UAE’s largest trading great spending power. Company, says, “The rea- the destination with partici- partner that has consistently generated an influx of inbound son to advance the dates to pation at the Riyadh Travel visitors. As a home-grown management company, we are The event this year has March is because the holy Fair increasing by 30 per focusing on the German market since a long time for its been preponed from April month of Ramadan will be- cent every year. We have stability and economic growth. We are showcasing our new to March. Sheikh Imran gin earlier over the next two always witnessed a posi- brand as Two Seasons Hotels from the viewpoint of Dubai Hafeez, Director of Sales & years, as it advances by 10 tive increase every year,” Freddy Farid enjoying two seasons - winter and summer. We are expecting Managing Director, Marketing, ASAS Exhibitions days every Islamic year.” concludes Hafeez. Two Seasons Hotel & to increase our brand awareness. Apartments Dubai GUESTCOLUMN The future of travel tech EDITORIAL While no one has a crystal ball that can envision the future, accurate forecasting or the ‘making of predictions’ is an important aspect of business New wave of tourism planning. 9RONDQdDùVDO, CEO, Adphorus, enlists three of his predictions. ermany has always been at the forefront of the travel trade and We will stop fearing that the sumers to the instant messenger- G robots will eat our jobs and YouTube is already style interfaces as a way to conduct travellers alike. As the world gathers embrace Artificial Intelligence commerce, including booking travel. in Berlin to interact with international Fear of the all-knowing and all- the de facto juggernaut in Apple has already provided the buyers and sellers to display and network seeing AI-powered dark overload the space and Facebook is apps on your iPhone a gateway to to promote destinations, ITB Berlin will fade. Consumers will find that now one of the top connect via its text messaging appli- makes sure to provide an opportunity auto-correction and grammar- cation. Android and Facebook have checking tools have morphed into platforms for video ads that also made similar types of tools to facilitate discussions on the pressing auto-sentence completion tools and is sustaining unprecedent- available. For a new mobile-first issues concerning travel and tourism they will find them useful at improv- generation, conducting commerce like overtourism, global warming and ing typing on a phone. They will like ed engagement rates with a chatbot from their favourite sustainability. In addition to these, this new consumer-friendly face of brand, airline or hotel makes sense. customer experience, luxury travel and AI as it makes all simple things, that all sizes, 2019 will be the year when It takes time for brands to catch up, are actually complex, on a computer programmatic video breaks out. but expect their early experiments future mobility are other topics that will simpler. Artificial Intelligence has YouTube is already the de facto jug- with chatbots to start to gain traction have a focus at the event. probably passed through the ‘trough gernaut in the space and Facebook with consumers in 2019. The Middle East is a key contributor which of disillusionment’ in the Gartner is now one of the top platforms hype cycle and it’s now finding a for video ads that is sustaining (The views expressed offers myriad customer experiences for are solely of the author. variety of ways it can be useful in, unprecedented engagement rates. travellers of today. Dubai together with the The publication may or may not like data-mining past aircraft mainte- Netflix is now testing simple static subscribe to the same.) United Arab Emirates has been a leader in nance logs to improve a mechanic’s promotions, of what one could call the travel, tourism and hospitality sectors ability to diagnose and fix airplanes house ads, for its own programming with its authentic experiences to the instead of replacing them. on its platform. I don’t expect them European markets. to open that up to advertisers next A perfect storm of new year, but given their rising level of Expo 2020 in Dubai will nonetheless be an technology, consumer adoption debt (more than $20 billion), mon- extraordinary event that is set to be a game and low-cost creation tools put etising that inventory will be a priority programmatic video advertising for Netflix at some point, soon.